Even if you no longer spend hours in the sun, lathered in baby oil, with a tin foil necktie, the risk of obtaining the most dangerous kind of skin cancer-melanoma-is very real every time you so much as walk out into a sunny day without a snow suit on. While conventional methods of prevention are available (um, sunblock?) a molecular diagnostic company, Health Discovery Corporation, has engineered an app to help you better detect and keep track of problematic moles on your body.

To use the app you use the camera on your iPhone to take a picture of your freckle or mole, making sure to use the zoom option so it fills the green box on the screen. After you have snapped the picture, it is uploaded and compared against a licensed data base from Johns Hopkins University Medical Center. If you run a significant risk the app will let you know you need to be seen by a professional.

In addition to helping detect melanoma in its early stages, you can also store images so you can properly track changes in the mole or freckle in question. Indicators are used to measure information such as color, size, and rate of development.

MelApp is available in the iTunes store for $1.99. An Android version is said to be in the works. Seems to be a small price to pay, and a valuable addition to your sunblocks and snow suits.

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About Jennifer Cusano

Jennifer Cusano, social media aficionado, research connoisseur, and writer du jour, is a Yogi on a path of personal exploration and long overdue healing. Managing Editor for YOGANONYMOUS, Producer for Where Is My Guru, Director of Social Media for YOGASCAPES and TumericALIVE, wife and mother of three, Jenn is really a superhero in disguise—or so she likes to think. In her spare time Jenn likes to read about and search for vampires, so if you happen to know or come across one, please do send them her way. Hit her up on Facebook or Twitter to discuss the various methods of tracking down said vampires. Also she is more than a little uncomfortable writing about herself in the third person, it may just be the hardest thing she's had to do, and that's saying something...

1957604 Responseshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.elephantjournal.com%2F2011%2F07%2Fskin-cancer-theres-an-app-for-that%2FSkin+Cancer%3F+There%27s+an+App+For+That%212011-07-26+22%3A52%3A22Jennifer+Cusanohttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.elephantjournal.com%2F%3Fp%3D195760 to “Skin Cancer? There’s an App For That!”

Nice! The AAD website (American Academy of Dermatology) also has a list of dermatologists by state who will do a free body scan: http://bit.ly/gqLFJi. Regular massage/bodywork is another great way to keep tabs on moles that you might not have a clear view of…not all massage therapists are trained in recognizing suspicious moles, but it is becoming popular in continuing ed.

I thought this was an easy and convenient way to keep track, and its pretty cool that you can compare your mole to a huge database at a well known cancer research center/hospital, in minutes, literally right at the tip of your fingertips. It save you a dr visit, so to not use it would be foolish, especially since skin cancer usually creeps up on you, and can be pretty untreatable in many cases. It's a cool App to have, I am fair skinned and freckled so for me its literally a lifesaver Glad you liked it.